Entries tagged with: Violens

Coral Cross released a video for its song "With a Lancet," a track that makes up the A-side of Coral Cross's debut 7". You can watch it below. We reviewed the EP over at Invisible Oranges, and we liked it--it's a refreshing take on metal that draws from melody-driven black metal, post-punk, shoegaze and pairs it with dreamy vocals. The 7" is out now on Mexican Summer.

Coral Cross is the work of Jorge Elbrecht, better known for his output with Lansing-Dreiden and Violens. It's unclear if Coral Cross will ever play live with any regularity, but one show is on the books for August 19 at Pioneer Works. The show will accompany a sculptural installation by Max Hooper Schneider, and a DJ set from Jimi Hey will follow.

Watch the video, stream the B-side, "The Coldest Steel Across Your Face," and see the show flyer below...

Friday night, the two rolled over to Music Hall of Williamsburg to keep the party going. The place was even more packed than Bowery Ballroom. This time, Mockasin began the performance playing his guitar while crowd surfing towards the stage. Once there, the band osmosisly soaked up Mockasin's vibe and started going koo-koo too, ditching various shirts and pants, with many in the crowd soon following suit. And mind you, this was already in the first 15 minutes of the show! Mac DeMarco got up and joined Liam Finn on bongos, Kirin J Callinan and his brother Tex got up there again, Jorge Elbrecht (from of Violens/Lansing-Dreiden), plus more ladies pulled up from the crowd. And it went like that for awhile longer, and seemingly into the backstage area, and no doubt into the great beyond that Connan Mockasin's mind dances around in. - [CMJ]

After playing Bowery Ballroom on Thursday, Connan Mockasin and Kirin J Callinan took their party/tour across the East River to Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday (5/4). No Dev Hynes that night (he was singing at the William Onyeabor tribute) but Mac DeMarco showed up. The result: most of the band taking most of their clothes off and, at one point, building a teetering shirtless man tower as seen in the instagram above. Liam Finn and his brother Elroy were there again, and Violens frontman Jorge Elbrecht joined too, and it was another evening of kind-spirited debauchery. Did you go to MHOW or Bowery? Both?

Eric Copeland likes to stay busy. In addition to his work with Black Dice, he's put out seven releases in the last year or alone, including two this summer for DFA, his first for the label as a solo artist. (Black Dice were on DFA in the label's early days.) In July he released the "Masterbater" 12" and then followed that up with the just-out Joke in the Hole LP. "Masterbater," which isn't on the album, is no more or less esoteric (or single-y) than what's found on the album, though at 12 minutes it coulda been just too long to make the cut. They're both part of Copeland's weird wonderful world of sound and you can stream the single and album in full below.

Eric plays a record release show tonight (8/23) in Brooklyn at 285 Kent. It's also release show for Regal Degal, whose new EP, Pyramid Bricks, is fresh on Terrible Records. Greatest Hits are on the bill as well, plus DJs Tim Koh (of Haunted Graffiti) and Jorge Elbrecht (Violens). Advance tickets are available.

About a month after tonight's show, Eric will team back up with the Black Dice guys when that band plays 285 Kent on September 27. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Curran Reynolds always tends to be up to a lot, sitting behind the kit in Today Is The Day and Wetnurse included. After January though, he will be up to a little less as his Precious Metal series at East Village club Lit Lounge is sadly, as previously mentioned, coming to an end. There are just three more installments, including one on January 7 with Ghostlimb and The Year Is One with BV's own Fred Pessaro (BBG) DJing. The flyer for that show is below. After the 1/7 date there's one on 1/14 with Jar'd Loose, Gentlemen, End it and DJ Mike SOS; and the finale on 1/21 with Hivesmasher, Fashion Week, Flaming Tusk, SOS and DJ Zeena Koda, which is a benefit for South Sound.

We spoke to Curran to find out what he's been listening to all year in between everything else. His Top 10 Albums of 2012 list includes some of the big heavy records of the year like Converge, Napalm Death, and Swans, but it also has some indie pop like School of Seven Bells and Violens (who Curran has been digging since his friend Jorge formed the band around 2008). The whole list is pretty eclectic and you can check it out below.

Today Is The Day will kick off a tour in 2013 with a killer support lineup of Black Tusk, KEN Mode, and FIght Amp. That tour hits NYC on March 6 at Saint VItus (tickets) and March 8 at The Studio at Webster Hall with a "special guest" TBA (tickets).

While The Pains of Being Pure at Heart didn't release an album this year, they have stayed busy touring on the heels of last year's terrific Belong. (They did put out a covers 7" in the UK though which is worth seeking out.) The band play a free hometown show this Friday (12/14) at Brooklyn Night Bazaar with Black Marble, Habibi and Heavens Gate. Doors are at 6 PM with bands starting at 8 PM, and it's all ages. Lines to get in Brooklyn Night Bazaar have been long, but move pretty quickly.

In other TPOBPAH news, singer/guitarist Kip Berman is one of the conspirators behind "Rough Smooch" a new indiepop party that has its debut this Sunday (12/16) at Williamsburg bar Legion. Wear your cutest anorak to this night that features performances by The Hairs, Kissing is a Crime and Grand Resort, plus Kip and WNYU's Maria Sherman on DJ duty. The party is free and starts at 9PM.

And lastly, the Pains were kind enough to send us a year-end music list. The whole band are music obsessives and couldn't whittle the list down to ten, so they sent a list of "some music we thought was cool in 2012." Kip adds, "I'm certain the other PAINS would put Kurt's Ice Choir record Afar on our list, but I think it would make him feel weird and, perhaps, seem nepotistic. But his record is really good, and however you feel about Pains, you should give it a listen." Ice Choir, by the way, play Cameo on December 22 with Cool Angels and Limited (info).

Violens release their second album, True, this week and the band will also play a record release party this Wednesday (5/16) at Le Poisson Rouge with openers Kuroma and The New Lines. Violens have a few other shows lined up, including a couple on the West Coast, all of which are listed below.

Last year, Violens stayed busy with a monthly series digital singles project (compiled here) and a few of those have turned up, polished up a bit, on the new album -- their first for Slumberland. With a fine sense of dynamics, True recalls the glory days of 4AD, be it the loud-soft sonics of the Pixies, the textural guitar wash of The Cocteau Twins or the melodic skills of the Pale Saints. Jorge Elbrecht, Iddo Arad and the rest of the band have tweaked and condensed Violens' sound into a distinct palette all their own, with True sporting the band's best songs to date.

You can stream a few songs off True below and check out strobe-heavy video for "All Night Low" and the flyer for the LPR show...

The most memorable thing that happened the year I visited Toronto for NXNE was Iggy Pop & The Stooges playing their big, outdoor, free, no-ticket-or-badge-required show downtown at Yonge-Dundas Square. Last year the Descendents did it. This year they've landed the Flaming Lips which should be an amazing spectacle. And:

Tour-matesThe Joy Formidable and A Place to Bury Strangers made a stop at Terminal 5 in APTBS's hometown of NYC last night (3/28). They were joined by locals Violens for one big show that is pictured in this post. More shots below...

"The actor who played drug vigilante Omar Little in TV series The Wire is to take on the role of Ol' Dirty Bastard in a film. Plans are moving ahead for Dirty White Boy, a movie based on the late and notorious rapper, starring the Baltimore crime drama's Michael K Williams.

Dirty White Boy focuses not just on ODB, born Russell Jones, but also on Jarred Weisfeld, the titular white boy, who met the musician when he was a 22-year-old VH1 production assistant. Weisfeld gradually became ODB's manager, Entertainment Weekly reports, engineering the rapper's comeback. His plan was cut short by Ol' Dirty Bastard's fatal drug overdose in November 2004."

As mentioned before, Young Prisms play tonight (3/5) at Glasslands with Austin's Boy Friend. The San Francisco band's second album, In Between, is out at the end of the month and we've got the premiere of Violens' remix of the album's lead track, "Floating in Blue." Violens took the very shoegazy original and kind of turned it into a late-80s New Order track. You can compare and contrast -- both versions are downloadable above.

Violens

Speaking of Violens, they just signed to Slumberland who will release their new album True on May 15. If you followed their monthly digital single releases last year, you may recognize a few of the songs on True. One of the new ones on the album, "Unfolding Black Wings," is downloadable at the top of this post.

Click through for the video to Young Prisms' "Floating in Blue," plus tour dates for the band.

Chairlift released their new-wavey sophomore LP, Something, on January 24 and played a record release show one night earlier at Bowery Ballroom (1/23) with Violensand Dive. The show seemed to have gone pretty well until frontwoman Caroline Polachek was mauled by a drunk fan who refused to get off stage during the last song of the encore. A video of this show finale and another of Chairlift playing Something opener, "Amanaemonesia," along with more pictures from the show (Chairlift keyboardist Olga Bell aka Bell included) is below.

This weekend, Chairlift will kick off an Australian/European tour and upon returning to North America in March for SXSW, they'll head out on a full North American tour with fellow pop strivers Nite Jewel that runs from late March into April. The two bands play their last show together in Philly two nights before Nite Jewel headline Bowery Ballroom on February 24. Tickets are not on sale yet but check ticketmaster for updates. Chairlift have no upcoming NYC show, but stay tuned for an announcement (probably Webster Hall) soon.

Chairlift are releasing their second full length, Something on January 24 via Columbia. You can stream two tracks off that album, "Met Before," "Amanaemonesia"," and "Sidewalk Safari," and a Sampha remix of the latter below.

They'll tour in support of the new album in January with an NYC show on January 23 at Bowery Ballroom with Violens. That tour also initially included a show at Symphony Space on January 19, though it appears to have been removed from Symphony Space's site. Tickets for the Bowery Ballroom show go on sale Friday (12/9) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (12/7) at noon.

After realizing that I couldn't find any info today confirming that James Murphywas DJing a VPL block party on Mercer Street tonight (9/8), I looked into it a little more and found out that the block party is cancelled, James Murphy included. Instead, and as listed at the Fashion's Night Out website, VPL (5 Mercer Street) is having this @ 6:30PM --- "Seldom House: A Covers Set by Caroline Polachek (Chairlift), Jorge Elbrecht (Violens), Will Berman (MGMT) and Leo Fitzpatrick." That's inside the store.

If you still want to some DFA action, Holy Ghost! plays the Prada store @ 6PM.

You can also catch Andrew VanWyngarden from MGMT aka DJ iDEATH with DJ Patrick from Chairlift entertaining people for Fashion's Night Out at Curve @ 8PM (that's at 83 Mercer St).

I guess we'll start this week with Stephen Malkmus who is doing two in stores on Thursday: Academy Records in Williamsburg at 6pm and then Other Music at 9PM. His new album Mirror Traffic, as you may know, was produced by Beck. I'm not sure what that was supposed to connote (more acoustic guitars? L. Ron Hubbard references?) but it's a pretty typical Malkmus solo album with some tight pop songs ("Tigers," downloadable above, and "Stick Figures in Love") and maybe a little more focused and less jammy than he's been in a while. But not much less jammy.

I'm the guy that thought his first solo album was a step in the right direction and has been somewhat ambivalent by what's followed since. But they're always worth hearing. Malkmus and the now Weiss-less Jicks are on tour next month and all upcoming tour dates are at the bottom of this post, along with the video for "No One Is (As I Are Be)."

Voluminous and enigmatic Minneapolis duo BNLX are visiting this week, playing The Rock Shop tonight (8/24) and Pianos on Thursday (8/25). This is their third trip to NYC, and the first since releasing the 6th release in their quarterly EP series. It's description in typical BNLX corporate-speak:

BNLX commences the next phase in the BNLX First One Year Plan (extension two) with its sixth consecutive quarterly EP release of "music." These compositions combine rhythmically-expressed poetry in popular idiomatic vernacular ("rhymes") with pulsating percussive elements ("beats") and harmonic modulations/variations/transpositions (melody). The resulting unique juxtaposition of auditory and narrative elements can only be described as "music". Thematic topics on this release include IED's, event horizons, beards and banjos, and deposed royalty. "Vaporize" leads off the EP with a high-energy blast of high velocity psychedelic noise pop.

Three of the four EP tracks are available to download at the top of this post. What I really like about BNLX is that they seem to be doing this for fun and it really translates to the songs, and to the listener. This is well-tread territory, but it's a pleasure to crank up loud. Or to go see live. BNLX are an aural (LOUD) and visual (strobes, smoke machines) assault in concert and it works. Go see 'em.

The Rock Shop show is with Delaware's Sky Drops; the Pianos show also has Jeane (who I finally saw last week, liked 'em), Phone Home and Ventilader.

Speaking of regimented release schedules, Violenshave been releasing a digital single every month this year, the latest of which, "Through the Window," is my favorite so far. With a skittering drumbeat and delay-drenched arpeggiated guitars, it sounds a little like Kitchens of Distinction (if you remember that early '90s band). Violens will be playing a lot of their new material tonight (8/24) at Glasslands.

The rest of tonight's bill is also worth checking out. Dive is the new band from Zachary Cole Smith who used to play drums (and wear mom jeans) in Beach Fossils. (He's also played in Soft Black and with Darwin Deez.) The one track I've heard is definitely a bit Fossil-ized, but am curious to hear more and see what they're like live. Dive play again on September 1 at Shea Stadium with Caged Animals and Forest Fire.

Opening the Glasslands show is Philadelphia's psych-shoegazers Arc in Round. whose most recent EP is cacauphonous and captivating...and sound like they might be very good live.

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Personal and the Pizzas are delivering in our area this weekend: Friday (8/26) at Maxwell's and Saturday (8/27) at Death by Audio. If you like good time Ramones style rock n' roll, and pizza (with extra cheese) you're gonna have a good time. I don't know what else to tell ya. There's video at the bottom of this post.

Lastly, we've got Male Bonding rolling into town: Glasslands on Saturday (8/27) and Mercury Lounge on Monday (8/29). The UK band's new album, Endless Now, is out next week and as mentioned before it moves away from the swampy sound of their debut into defiant mid-fi. Any more fidelity with melodic punk like this and you might start getting into Blink-182 territory. This album is as produced as it needs to be and is a pretty fun listen with just enough shoegaze nods to keep old guys like me interested. You can download two songs off it at the top of this post.

The band are on tour with Austin's Love Inks who are 180 degrees from Male Bonding's sound: gentle, minimal, croony. The jury is still out on their live show (my jury at least) but I do really like their album.

That's the main stuff I'm talking about this week. A few more worthy picks -- day by day -- are below.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24

Head to Pianos to catch dark and sexy ZAZA, who play with Australian group Sherlock's Daughter who are on an extended New York holiday, as well as My Best Fiend, Our Mountain, and Alak.

We'll start of this week with a giveaway. Violens play Santos this Saturday and if you'd like to win a pair of tickets to the show as well as a copy of the band's new album, Amoral, just send an email to BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM with "VIOLENS" as the subject and we'll pick a winner at random.

I think Violens' debut is a pretty sweet slice of glossy goth pop, heavily in debt to bombastic '80s UK mope but with a modern sheen. If it's out-of-step with what's currently in favor in Brooklyn, it's all the more distinctive for it. It also sounds really good loud. Amoral may hold up pretty well down the line, too, as songs like "Violent Sensation Descends," "Acid Reign" (both downloadable above) and "The Dawn Of Your Happiness Is Rising" are cleverly-produced and catchy-as-hell.

The whole Santos show should be pretty fun, with the awesome Light Asylum and Caveman opening (plus, BBG reports that Krallice drummer Lev Weinstein is now playing as a member of Violens too).

[Midlake]'s intervention supplied confidence, empathy and a meticulous '70s soft rock sound, allowing Grant to channel a life's worth of vitriol and self-flagellation into songs of spiritual hunger, emotional fireworks and bile-black humour that always searched for self-improvement and atonement. Here were tales of alcohol and cocaine dependency, self-hate and destructive love affairs that raised the twin ghosts of Patsy Cline and Karen Carpenter. The result was in an intensely bittersweet pop record, that, like a couple of similar MOJO classics before it -- Antony's I Am a Bird Now and Bon Iver's For Emma... -- sounded like it's creator had been waiting his whole life to make.

You can listen to the whole shebang via a widget at the bottom of this post. Unfortunately, Midlake won't be backing him on these shows so we won't get Queen of Denmark is it's truly epic glory but I have a feeling that Grant, with help from multi-instrumentalist Casey Chandler, will do just fine on a smaller scale.

Tricky

Trip hop pioneer Tricky is here this week as well, with shows at Le Poisson Rouge tomorrow (12/9) and Brooklyn Bowl on Friday (12/10). Here's one of those artists that even that despite a string of lackluster records, I always give the new album a chance. While there are more than a few regrettable moments on Mixed Race (I don't think anybody could make a Peter Gun sample work in 2010), there's also some of the best we've heard from him in ages that drip that paranoid, slow-burn cool that made his first two albums classics.

While Deerhunter's terrific Halcyon Digest is finding its way into many's Top Ten of 2010 lists (maybe mine, we'll see), Bradford Cox stays busy as Atlas Sound who play an Maxwell's on Friday (12/10) and The Bell House on Saturday (12/11). Has any other artist been on such a creative hot streak as Cox since 2008? The guy releases at least one "official" album a year in one of his two guises, with regular demo dumps via his blog that are almost always worth downloading. Like the four-partBedroomDatabank series we got in the last two weeks. May this ride never end.

This year is the 38th Annual Village Halloween Parade.This year's theme: "Memento Mori"

Twenty years ago the iconic Day of the Dead puppets first appeared in the Village Halloween Parade, our festival of All Souls to ritual traditions worldwide -the Guede in Port-au-Prince, the Skull and Bones Gang of New Orleans, in the calaveras of Oaxaca, the Midnight Robbers of Trinidad, and beyond. Often it is in the places where tragedy is more ubiquitous and everyday existence can be more of a struggle, that expressions of the Dead are the most exuberant, a reminder that life itself, despite itshardships, is a gift. The Dead - as they return to drink coffee, play checkers, watch TV,but above all, to dance - offer us a mirror to see with fresh eyes the everyday things in our lives, rendered invisible by routine. Every sound, action, and motion we take for granted, they rejoice in - on the one night they can. So each year, when the skeletons take their place at the head of the Halloween Parade, they are not grim expressions of the morbid but rather joyful reminders of all that is vital.

As the beloved dancing skeletons enter their third decade in the Village Halloween Parade, we seek to honor them - and in doing so, to honor all those who have walked in their footsteps. Official Parade puppeteers Superior Concept Monsters, Master Puppeteer Basil Twist and Haitian Artist Didier Civil plan to work with the Mexican, Haitian and arts communities to make and remake, create and re-create, re-envision and resurrect the entire Day of the Dead section, calling forth not only the spirits of the Dead, but many of the puppets of past VHP artists that had long been absent from the streets of Greenwich Village. Drawing on traditional forms from Trinidad to Tibet, Haiti to Mexico, new 12'-foot tall skeletal puppets will add new life to the VHP's jubilant underworld - a cortege drawn by galloping night-Mares, an illuminated Ghost Train, and a dozen brand-new dancing Calaveras skeletons and who knows what else to join their brethren at the head of the Parade.

As the perennial community of Halloween volunteers gathers again this year to build and rehearse our memento mori ("Remembrance of Death") we'll look back on 37 years of Halloween in NY with another Latin adage: "Vita Brevis Ars Longa" : life is short, but art endures.

The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black was supposed to play Santos Party House, but the venue is closed.

Did you catch Legendary Pink Dots at Le Poisson Rouge the other night? Since their tour was announced, they were also added as opener for tonight's Dresden Dolls show at Irving Plaza.

That Dresden Dolls show also promises "special guests, rare performances, and a cacophony of Brechtian entertainment." AND: "This triumphant return will be documented by the Dresden Dolls fan base in a project spearheaded by This One Is On Us. Fans from all over the world will record, edit, design, and promote to produce a DVD of the evening for all the world to cherish and enjoy. This project aims to blur the link between author and reader even further - until both are one and the same."

HALLOWEEN
8PM $5
DAMN! a Halloween tribute to WHAM!
(Max and Kev from Pizza Party on EVR)
THE CURE(Warm Ghost)
VIOLENT FEMMES(McDonald's)
ELO(Members of The Mad Scene and The Flaming Fire)
DANZIG/MISFITS(Members of Love as Laughter, Children, and Violent Bullshit

The lineup has been announced for this year's SUNY Purchase Fall Fest, an annual one-day, students-only festival which will take place on November 5th in the SUNY Purchase Student Center (The Stood). Fall Fest '10 (aka Halloween 2) will be headlined by Raekwon, and features a very varied lineup of other acts including Death who just announced a NEW album...

BASEMENT OF WHAT WAS ONCE KNOWN AS GROOVESVILLE STUDIOS - DETROIT, MI - May 7th, 2010

"After searching for almost eight hours, I removed a box with a Master in it and vaguely saw some big red letters on the box below it. I shinned the light on this box to clearly see the writing in big red letters DEATH. I screamed with excitement DEATH!!, DEATH!!, DEATH!! Everyone in the building starting to scream and wildly cheer and applause. Upon seeing those tapes, it brought it all back, David had written those big red letters on the tape. Engineer Jim Vitti had jokingly drew a skull and crossbones on the box after the name to which David did not like telling him "We are not that kind of Death". I was full of emotion, I cried. We were all elated, Jacque was elated, I called up Dannis who was in Vermont and he began to joyfully celebrate. I thought about David. If David were here with us all that has happened to Death up to this point would pale in comparison to what we found today. The tapes were right where Brian said they were sitting there awaiting us for 34 years." - Bobby Hackney

Spiritual, Mental, Physical is the new Death CD/LP and it will be released 01/25/11.

The SUNY show is Death's only at the moment.

The So So Glos will also be performing at SUNY, and are about to embark on a Five Borough NYC tour to celebrate the release of their new EP, Low Back Chain Shift, which came out Tuesday, October 12. The NYC tour happens to take place during CMJ, kicks off in Staten Island, includes a Queens BBQ with Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus, and a showcase at Pianos...

Ok it's a busy weekend of shows. It always is, I always say that. But this TWII is seems more packed than most. No doubt, it is time to try a little harder in the band name department. Especially when it comes to beachy ones of which, anyone who even casually checks in with Pitchfork can tell you, there are too many of. Adding to the band name clutter and confusion are Oakland, CA's Summer Blondeswho are visiting us this weekend. They play tonight (7/21) at Shea Stadium, a house party in Bushwick on Friday (7/23) and Bruar Falls on Saturday.

Given their name and hometown, it may not surprise you learn that Summer Blondes (who are dudes, maybe that's a surprise) make low-fi surf garage rock. That said, and lack of moniker originality aside, I like these guys. Alternating between laid back instrumentals and blown-out rockers (and some that most interestingly fall in between), there's more musicality going on here than you might expect. Also: their drummer is a manic powerhouse, and their singer/screamer appears to be a little nuts. No records out yet, but the band do have CDR demos they've been handing out at shows so keep an eye/ear out for those.

Pujol

Also playing that Saturday Bruar Falls show are Nashville's Pujol who are on JEFF the Brotherhood's Infinity Cat label. Is it just me or does it seem like there's a Nashville band in town every weekend? Bye bye JEFF and Heavy Cream, but hello Pujol. You may know him from Wizardz or MEEMAW if you follow the Nashville scene closer than I do. Like all the bands on the Infinity Cat roster, Daniel Pujol makes poppy, punky party rock that is hard to dislike.

If you can't make the Bruar show, Pujol also play Silent Barn on Sunday night and that one's with The Beets, Knight School, and Moonmen on the Moon, Man. Check out a couple Pujol music videos at the bottom of this post with all dates.

For being in a band who have never done a whole lot for me one way or the other (there, I admit it), I like every band on Chris Taylor's Terrible Records. The label's next release is the debut from locals Twin Shadow which will be out September 28. The brainchild of stylish New Yorker George Lewis Jr., Twin Shadow mix a variety of '80s influences into a pretty distinctive sound. For example, on "Slow," which you can download at the top of this post, you can hear a little Joy Division in the drumbeat, and the arpeggiated, delay-effected guitar is straight out of The Chameleons or U2's playbook. You can even hear a little Prince ("I Would Die 4 U") and Bruce Springsteen ("I'm on Fire") in there too. But he makes it all into something new.

Lewis, who sounds like The Blue Nile's Paul Buchanan but looks more than a little like Phil Lynott, is a charismatic cat on stage... see them now in small places while you can. Twin Shadow play Cake Shop Thursday (7/22) and Coco 66 on Friday (7/23). Both shows are with Hooray for Earth.

Headliners Free Energy should be right at home on a big outdoor stage, as their album is loaded with festival-ready fist-pumping rock anthems, stealing the best bits of Thin Lizzy, ELO and '80s stadium rock. Perfect summer music, that goes down easier than Bud Light. Get there early for trio Loose Limbs (who are signed to Seaport Music Records), and I'll be DJing a second week in a row. Will I play The Darkness? Seems likely.

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That's gonna do it for this edition. There's some more daily picks of things worth checking out that I didn't cover above:

You could make a Montreal night of it by then heading over to Home Sweet Home for the Wierd party where Automelodi play at Midnight.

Sludgy noisemerchants Total Slacker (check out new MP3 "Cops Freak Me Out" at the top of this post) and funky Ava Luna (who impressed during Northside) headline a bill at Glasslands that also includes Mala Strana and Baltimore's loud Weekends.

Diehard, who'll have a new EP out soon of catchy, classic-sounding indie rock, at Union Pool with The Waylons and World War.
continued below...

Nite Jewel, Ramona Gonzalez and collaboratot Cole M. Greif-Neill, have a new EP, Am I Real?, out digitally now (and on vinyl August 16th). It's streaming on their site currently.

"In the last two years, somewhere in between the bedroom & the studio proper (the living room?), the 6 songs of 'Am I Real?' were made and the tape hiss barely made it (please see b-side opener 'Falling Far'). Featuring subtly re-vamped & improved selections from last year's hard-to-obtain 'You F O' euro tour cd, the ep also offers the newer fully established ornate melancholy of 'Forget You & I' and the sophisticatedly restrained funk of the closing title track featuring Daniel & Andrew Aged of Teen Inc. Also found on this release are the further benefits of master facilitator & now-official NJ band member Cole MGN." Jason Darrah, Gloriette Records

The group is reportedly working with with Dam-Funk and others on a second album due in the way off future of winter 2011.

Nite Jewel's upcoming tour dates include an August 9th show at Mercury Lounge with Violens and Prince Rama. Tickets are on sale. Then they have a double blast of shows on Saturday, August 14th. The first is a gig opening for Neon Indian, Prefuse 73 and Dom at their free Beach at Governors Island show. The second is a headlining show at Glasslands with The Samps, Blood Orange and Arp (who recently played Warm Up at PS1). Tickets are on sale.

Arp, as Pitchfork points out, "will release his latest full-length. The Soft Light [on] September 14 via Smalltown Supersound". An MP3 from that album is above...

"Leading up to the release of The Soft Wave, Alexis Georgopoulos [aka Arp] composed his first score for modern dance in Replica, a duet between Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown dancers, which debuted at New York's New Museum. He played a live score to artist Doug Aitken's film Migration at 303 Gallery (New York), participated in the Boredoms-curated 8.8.08 88-drummer extravaganza in Los Angeles, and remixed Lindstrøm. His music was featured in director Gary Hurstwit's film Objectified. He also made music in Q&A (formerly Expanding Head Band), his new DFA project with partner Quinn Luke, and his band The Alps released two albums III & Le Voyage (Type) to critical acclaim. ARP shared bills with Cluster on the coast of Big Sur, Sonic Boom, White Rainbow, Four Tet, Lucky Dragons, Growing, and Wooden Ships, among others. The track "Potentialities" from In Light was recently featured on James Holden's DJ KICKS. Most recently, he released FRKWYS Volume III, a collaborative album with minimalist composer Anthony Moore, as part of RVNG's new FRKWYS series. The duo recently performed with a string section as part of New York City's Wordless Music Festival."

Of all the things going on this week -- and there is no shortage of options as usual -- my number one pick would be for you to see Wild Beasts, who are on tour and play Bowery Ballroom on Friday (2/26, sold out) and Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sunday (2/28) Tickets still available for the Brooklyn show and we have a pair to giveaway. Details at the bottom of this post.

Their second album, Two Dancers, was my favorite album of 2009 and I still hear some new and amazing little detail every time I listen to it. I went to all three of their New York shows last September, all of which were great. The fluid interplay between the band is something to behold -- a real case of four people working as one mesmerizing whole. And those who still haven't gotten used to their vocal style, I say go see them live and everything makes more sense. Wild Beasts are one of a kind, at the top of their game, and you're dumb to miss them.

Both shows feature Toronto's Still Life Still as openers, and Violens will also play the MHoW show. Both openers also head to SXSW in March.

Morning Benders

The other undeniable show this weekend is Saturday (2/27) at Market Hotel with a line-up that almost dares you not to go: Surfer Blood, Turbo Fruits, Beach Fossils, Grooms and Morning Benders. All bands I've written about in this weekly column more than once. Now most of these bands -- including out-of-towners Surfer Blood and Turbo Fruits -- play here enough that most people have seen them already. Except Morning Benders, recent transplants from San Francisco who have kind of blown up over the last two weeks thanks in part to a great new album, Big Echo (out March 9 on Rough Trade), as well as a killer live performance video (shot for Yours Truly) of the LP's lead track, "Excuses," that's been making the rounds. The version on the album is already pretty lovely, but here, done Phil Spector style with the Big Echo Orchestra (John Vanderslice and Christopher Owens of Girls among them) is pretty special. You can watch it at the bottom of this post, and download the MP3 of "Excuses" from The Morning Benders website for the mere price of your email address. The MP3 for "Promises" is above. Anyway, see them now before the album comes out and they no longer play places like Market Hotel.

... or the Housing Works Bookstore where they'll play tonight (2/25) with the garagey Shark? and twinkly folkies Cuddle Magic. Max Silvestri hosts. Presented by the Hype Machine, it's also a CD swap where you can take all those CDs you've ripped and trade them for others you don't have yet. Admission is $5 and at least one CD. Do bring something someone people would want to listen to, and not that CD of your cousin's ska band, OK?

The Morning Benders also play Mercury Lounge on April 22 (tickets still on sale). All tour dates for the band are at the bottom of this post.
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Some more show picks shows by day:

THURSDAY 2/25

Toro Y Moi is playing Cameo Gallery but surprise surprise: Best New Music + 75 person capacity = sold out show. There will be some tickets ($5) available when doors open at 8PM. Twin Sisterare also on the bill so if you already have tickets for this, show up early and see them -- they're great. If you don't make it in, Toro Y Moi rolls back through town on March 26 where he'll play Brooklyn Bowl with New Zealand's Ruby Suns. He'll be at SXSW too. All tour dates for him are at the bottom of this post.

North Highlands, Dream Diary and Knight School are at Death by Audio. Now is the time to catch North Highlands, who were excellent at Bruar Falls last week and I think will be taking things to the "next level" (whatever that means) soon. Dream Diary are getting really good too, especially if you like Pastels-style indiepop, and Knight School are NYC's nerdiest, funniest, catchiest, tinniest band.

If you weren't able to squeeze into Cameo on Thursday, Twin Sisterplay the equally tiny Matchless. As I said recently, they're probably the best new band I've seen in some time. I will say I'm predisposed to like their mix of Stereolab and Sade, but I was wowed when I saw them at Bruar Falls.

A Sunny Day in Glasgoware back in NYC, playing Mercury Lounge (tickets). They've got a new EP, Nitetime Rainbows, coming out next week that shows off their more experimental, soundscape-y side. Which side will we get Friday? This is the start of a lengthy tour which of course includes SXSW. Acrylics, who I love, are also playing the Mercury Lounge show.

Another chance to see Knight School, this time early on at Bruar Falls with awesomely loud (yet poppy) duo Sisters, sonic manipulator Noveller and the psych punk assault of Lame Drivers. After this show, Sisters hit the road with another Brooklyn duo, Coasting, for the tour heading to SXSW and then join up with Irish band So Cow after the fest. Tour dates are below.

SATURDAY 2/27

Hospitality haven't played live in at least six months, due mainly to their bass player's duties in White Rabbits. He won't be at Bruar Falls on Saturday so we'll be seeing a slightly different line-up of the band but I'm glad to have them back. Singer Amber Papini is quite the charming singer. They're opening for Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums -- who are also playing an early show at Mercury Lounge on Friday.

Another local band that hasn't played in ages: The Hundred in the Hands, whose song "Dressed in Dresden" I listened to a lot last summer. It's the only song on their Myspace, apart from about 10 different remixes. It's a good track, but I'm curious to see how many other songs they have. With Glasslands doors at 11 and two other bands on the bill (Ra Ra Rasputin, Esque) it'll be a late night.

SUNDAY 2/28

Go see Wild Beasts. Seriously.

That's it for this week. Videos, Wild Beasts contest, and tour dates are after the jump.

Wild Beasts kick off their first North American tour (with Still Life Still) in LA tonight (2/10). The trek runs through February 28th. and the final show is in Brooklyn at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets are still available and Violens were added to that bill. The Bowery Ballroom show two nights earlier (which only has two bands on the bill) is sold out. A brand new video for "We Still Got The Taste Dancin' On Our Tongues" and all dates below...

A pretty killer line-up at Mercury Lounge tonight (12/9). Headliners Violens just got back from a big European tour opening for White Lies, and this looks to be their last show of 2009. They've been rather pokey in getting out their debut LP, but it looks set to finally come out early next year. You can get a taste on their downloadable Winter Mix Tape which features a couple album tracks, some remixes, demos, a cover of Saint Etienne's "Avenue" (!) -- plus singer Jorge Elbrecht singing overtop Wire's "Outdoor Miner" and The Byrds' "I See You." (The latter, he sings My Bloody Valentine lyrics). If you've never heard Violens before, this is a pretty good place to start, giving you a sense of the disparate influences the band bring together.

Also playing Merc are Acrylics and Class Actress, both of whom are signed to Grizzly Bear Chris Taylor's Terrible Records. I've written about Acrylics a bunch of times are definitely one of my favorite new local bands. Their debut EP, All of the Fire, was produced by Taylor and came out a couple weeks ago and is at its best when Jason Klauber and Molly Shea sing together. The title track, which you can download at the top of this post, finds them at their Fleetwood Mac-iest, with that dreamy pedal steel and echo handclaps.

Class Actress

Class Actress, meanwhile, could be lumped in with the coldwave/darkwave scene depending on what song you hear first -- the synths on "Careful What You Say" are pretty icy -- but there's a strong heartbeat running through Elizabeth Harper's songs, and the EP (produced in part by Violens' Elbrecht) is pretty varied and quite lovely. I haven't seen her perform live yet, so I'm looking forward to tonight.

Yellow Fever

As mentioned previously, Yellow Fever are in town this weekend, ostensibly to play a record release party Saturday (12/12) night at Death By Audio for their debut LP on Vivian Girls Wild World records. Vivian Girls headline. Happy Birthday open. Yellow Fever's album is basically a compilation of everything they've released to date -- a couple CDR EPs and singles. They definitely work the "less is more" angle, with spare arrangements that play off Jennifer Moore's haunting vocals (not entirely unlike Cowboy Junkies' Margot Timmins). They're something special.

If you ask me, at this point in their popularity, Vivian Girls + Death By Audio = too much nutty behavior for me, so I'll probably catch Yellow Fever at Bruar Falls on Friday (12/11) where they play with Tyvek, Air Waves (a nice NYC match to Yellow Fever, download their song "Lightning" above) and Noveller (the musician, not the macroblogging service). Yellow Fever also play Silent Barn on Sunday (12/13).

MF: It's good to write music all the time, if that's what you want to do. When you're in a band, when you have something going, the hardest thing you have to do is to put everything into what's ongoing.. Especially these days you never know what you're supposed to do--if you should be more hectic, give away songs, or do a project with the voice from the Muppets. You have to have a record on Twitter. The band lends itself to do that sort of thing,

AVC: You mean gimmicky stuff?

MF: Yeah, we do a lot of gimmicky things, but it comes from us. We don't think that's so strange for us. But we've had people tell us, "Give a song away so you get people's e-mail addresses and you can send them an e-mail saying, 'Buy our box set for $90.'" All these [music] professionals, they don't know what they're doing. What can you do? You just have to do what you have energy to finish. Luckily you probably won't follow through on things you're not really into.

AVC: Does that mean we're not going to see you giving away an album on Twitter any time soon?

MF: Well, we are on Twitter, but someone did tell us, "If you're not on Twitter, you don't exist." That's the way the world is now. You could just be interested in writing in 140 characters, but it's also your obligation to be friendly too. We still have to figure out which way to go with that, so our Twitter posts aren't very interesting.

That's it for today. I'll talk about That Petrol Emotion, A Sunny Day in Glasgow and more in the second half of this column, coming tomorrow to this very blog! Meanwhile, click through for flyers, videos and tour dates...